1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cellular telecommunications system and, in particular, a system for enabling telecommunication services for multiple subscribers utilizing multiple terminals and for charging the generated fees to a plurality of separate subscriptions.
2. Description of Related Art
Developments and improvements in wireless telecommunications switching systems have allowed wireless subscribers to easily move from one physical location to another and still access and utilize the subscribers' own telephone services and subscriber features. For examples an inherent feature of a cellular radio system is that an owner of a cellular telephone subscriber station can move freely within his or her home exchange area and receive or make calls without being connected to a communication line by wires. An enhancement of conventional cellular systems is the interconnection of several different systems into a cellular network which allows "roaming." Roaming permits a wireless user to move from one city covered by a first cellular system to another city covered by a second cellular system and still use his or her same cellular subscriber station.
However, even though the above mentioned cellular system services and subscriber features provide some form of user mobility within telecommunications systems, they do not provide true subscriber, terminal, or subscription mobility. For example, current cellular subscriber terminals are each identified with a specific user having a specific account associated with his or her subscription to the services of the cellular operator. Consequently, when a call is made within a conventional cellular radio network, it is always from one subscriber terminal to another subscriber terminal because each directory number within a cellular system is assigned to a particular mobile identification number (MIN), and thus, to a particular subscriber terminal and not to a particular user. All calls made from that particular cellular subscriber terminal are charged to a single fixed subscription account preassigned by the operator to that terminal. Moreover, unless a visiting user who has access to a "new"subscriber terminal notifies his or her potential callers of the number assigned to that "new" terminal, no one other than the user previously assigned to that particular terminal may receive an incoming call on it.
With conventional cellular systems, each cellular subscriber is directly associated with a particular cellular terminal and must physically carry that cellular terminal wherever he or she goes in order to receive and make telephone calls within the system. Furthermore, all calls originated or terminated from that particular subscriber's terminal are charged to one particular pre-assigned subscription. Accordingly, there is no true mobility or independency between a cellular system subscription, a cellular subscriber terminal and a cellular user.
Therefore, it would be a desirable capability for cellular telecommunications networks to flexibly accommodate multiple possible users on a single subscriber terminal, multiple possible subscriber terminals by a single user, multiple distinguishable users by a single cellular system subscription, and the use of multiple cellular subscriptions by a single user in order to provide true user, terminal and subscription mobility.
Cellular telephone terminals are widely available worldwide and, thus, there is no real need for a user to be physically dependent on a particular cellular subscriber terminal in order to utilize his or her cellular subscriber services. It would be a distinct advantage for a cellular user to be able to pick up any available cellular subscriber terminal and receive and originate telephone calls based upon his or her own cellular system subscription. The system of the present invention enables a user to select any available cellular subscriber terminal to make an outgoing call and have it charged to his own "virtual" subscription. As a user travels around the cellular networks without his cellular subscriber terminal, he may freely register with any available cellular telephone terminal and, from the time of that registration, receive all of his incoming calls at that newly registered subscriber terminal. Furthermore, several users can register with the system and associate each of themselves with a single cellular subscriber terminal and thereby allow several users to share one subscriber terminal when only one terminal is available (e.g., four people car pooling with only one cellular terminal in the car). A display panel in the cellular terminal displays the particular number or party for whom an incoming call is intended and informs the assigned user to answer the incoming call.
Currently, a cellular subscriber terminal owner pays for all incoming and outgoing calls connected through that terminal regardless of the particular individual using the terminal. The present invention enables incoming calls to a particular cellular subscriber terminal to be charged to the subscription account assigned to the called party and not simply to that of the terminal owner. Similarly, outgoing calls are charged to a visiting user's own subscription account instead of automatically being charging to that of the terminal owner.